My husband was a born ruffian. When I can get it out of him, he regales me with these crazy stories of his childhood wherein I realize he was a rather wicked little boy though he doesn’t quite see it that way. Let me put it this way – he was the kid that gave his parents grey hair right out of the womb. Yeah, he was that kid.
So when he shares with me a story about how he was the victim, you have to understand, it’s a tough one to swallow. Particularly when it involves his younger and much kinder sister.
Now as you know, there are two sides to every story. So I will present both here.
Clifford tells his version like so –
He and his sister were outside playing as most siblings did in the 80’s, though it’s a bit of a foreign concept by today’s standards. At one point, Clifford was standing on top of a grapevine trellis. There was a bird’s nest there that his sister had wanted to see so she asked for him to pull her up. He, as the loving doting older brother was about to oblige. With no support for him to grab hold to, he bent over the trellis and reached for his sister regardless. She had a hold of the garden hose as she reached for him in return.
As he began to pull her up to see the bird’s nest she’d been begging to see, he looked her in the eyes and said, “whatever you do, don’t let go.”
In that moment, his sister turned outright sinister as a scheming snarl crept across her face. She looked at him, with evil in her eyes, and let go.
Clifford took a complete nose-dive over the trellis, landing on his arms. Both broken in an instant. He felt his mother was out to get him too as she made him bathe before she would rush him to the hospital. So there he sat in the bathroom, being washed by his mom, with two broken arms and in immense pain while he anxiously awaited the ride to the emergency room. According to his mom, he was way too dirty to take out in public.
His sister’s version:
Clifford was the one who wanted to see the bird’s nest. The whole thing was his idea. And no, she did not conspire in any way to deliberately break his arms. Even though he’s like totally deserved it on many many occasions. – okay, that last sentence may have been an editor’s addition.
I count this as a no-take-back because the vision of my husband being bathed by his mother with two broken arms is a visual I can’t even begin to cartoon because it’s so freaking hilarious. I share this story with you now to inspire you to write your sibling story and send it in. Believe me, if you’ve got a sibling, there’s always a sibling story to share. Check out my first contest and win your own pair of sibling action figures. Submit your story today!
